NEWS - Property

 Comment

Lend Lease Primelife receives bank debt waiver

Published 10:24 AM, 18 Sep 2009 Last update 4:43 PM, 18 Sep 2009

By a staff reporter

Aged care provider Lend Lease Primelife Ltd (LLP) has received a waiver from its lenders over an interest coverage covenant breach for the period ended June 30.

Under the terms of the agreement reached between the company, its banks and parent company Lend Lease Corporation Ltd, the interest coverage ratio, which includes non-cash items, will be replaced with a 1.25 times cash covenant, LLP said.

The limit of the facility will be cut to $350 million from $460 million at June 30.

LLP chief executive Rod Fehring said the new arrangement was more suited to the needs of the business.

“There has been solid improvement in operating cashflow since Lend Lease took over as manager and improving underlying cashflow performance remains a high priority for LLP going forward," Mr Fehring said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

"We have now agreed bank covenants that are aligned with the way we need to operate the business.”

The company also said that with $20 million worth of assets already divested, it was on track to meet its $350 million debt obligation by June 2010.

"LLP has already significantly reduced the level of bank debt from $600 million at December 31 2008 to the current level of $460 million," the company said.

"LLP maintains engagement with its banks to refinance and further restructure borrowing facilities prior to this time."

Lend Lease Corporation shares rose 0.36 per cent to $10.90, against a 0.5 per cent slide in the benchmark index.

LLP shares last traded at 20.5 cents



|  

Comment


Be the first to comment on this story.



Contribute to the Conversation

To contribute your comments for possible publication, please Login or Register.

Preference will be given to succinct contributions. We may contact you via email prior to publication.